Got some. Most didn't...

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"...better stock up on everything."

Yup. Best way I know of to create or maintain a shortage.

Economics 101 says that when a supply is limited and the demand is high, prices rise. That's been true for thousands of years. However, "The solution to high prices is high prices." Why? Quite simple: An incentive has been created to increase the supply.

So Remington is expanding its ammo production in a plant in (IIRC) Arkansas. A brand-new company is building a plant in one of the Carolinas, expected to begin production next spring or summer. Other suppliers are also expanding production.

Tomorrow's prices to be higher than yesterday's? Sure. Higher costs for the inputs to the manufacturers. Chemicals for the powder and primers. Costs of equipment and its maintenance. Property taxes on the buildings. Labor. Insurance. Transportation. None of these items are static; certainly not in decline.

But as far as the present shortage? "We have met the enemy, and he is us." "Instant gratification" is always expensive. Some things never change. Never.
 
This is worth reading, if you haven't. There was also a recent interview with Steve Hornady on video from the NRA. All the same message. The shortages are due to panic buying and hoarding. Period. No new regulatory restrictions are involved. It's not government buying, as government is now in the single digits as a percentage of sales by commercial ammo makers. Price increases are both due to hoarding and to shortages of raw materials that, in turn, are at least partly due to—you guessed it—panic buying and hoarding.

The shortages and high prices are a self-inflicted wound. Those familiar with the writings of Adam Smith (early economist) will know that competition drives prices down toward the cost of production, while panic buying and hoarding does just the opposite, creating a seller's market and driving prices up so that enough supply remains to serve more customers (the stores don't want to have to turn customers away empty-handed). Right now there is no competition because demand due to panic buying and hoarding is exceeding all production capabilities. There is no other equally significant factor.
 
Been thinking about this shortage business awhile.

Remembering back to prior ammo shortage's. I just don't remember .22's not being available around these parts. I remember that you couldn't find handgun ammo in .38, 9mm, .357, 40 cal. , 44sp. or 44mag.
Seems to me there was always .22, most normally stocked rifle ammo as well as all the shotgun ammo you wanted.

Do ya think maybe we have learned over the past years of other ammo shortages when 22's were always still available during these shortages that...
"the next time there's an ammo shortage I'm gonna be ready. I going out and buy me something that shoots 22's or get those 22's out of the back of the safe and dust them off so at least I can still get out and shoot something when all the rest of the handgun ammo vanish's from the shelves".

Couple all the regular 22 shooters with the new 22's shooters ,plus the shooters getting there old 22's out and dusting them off , all the hoarders and the pathetic dealers buying up all they can trying to make triple the profit...and then, all this huge increase demand put on the manufacturers in such a short time frame. It just doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened with the 22's after other handgun ammo started drying up.

When the more popular ammo first started drying up, many dealers gradually started increasing 22 prices till the cupboards were bare. Then the real shyster dealers started gobbling up the Wally World 22's at $20-$30 a brick and selling it to people desperate enough to get screwed at $60-$70 a brick.
Trust me when I tell ya, before I pay $70 for a brick of 22's, there will be a dinner that comes with them.;)

There are people here that keep saying "I'm gonna keep stocking up" OR "22 is the only thing I have to shoot so I gotta pay $70 a brick for them". You're doing nothing but keeping the shortage going and getting pimped by dealers triple'ing their profit on you.

Let the stuff set on the shelf for three or four months. Shoot a bow, invest in a black powder (three bricks @ $70ea. buys a nice b/p setup) or an airsoft gun and start shooting them. Hell, shoot a slingshot.

Just let the 22's collect some dust on the Wally World shelves and don't get ripped off at $70 a brick at the shows.
 
I guess I've been fortunate to have the funds available to buy slow and steady. .22, .38, .223, etc. Always try to throw a little money at bullets, powder, primers, round ball and my favorite cartridges every week. Took me some time to amass enough where I can shoot a moderate amount and not worry about running low. Certainly .22s get burned up fast, I've set limits on the amount of rounds I give the kid when she shoots her .22. I haven't shot as much as I'd like to, but it seems the ammo is coming back. Recently saw and purchased the first brick of .22 I've seen since last Christmas time. There were three bricks left, I was next in line, coulda bought all three. Local Wally Mart has three box limit. Dude behind me was eyeing them also. He had a couple younger kids with him and was saying to them that there might only be the 100 round boxes left so they could maybe do a little shooting. I bought one brick and box of .223. Hope he got the other two for his kids. I've got plenty of .22. Was he throwing that out there to influence my purchase? Maybe. Or maybe he was sincere. Don't know, don't care. My girl has another box of ammo she can shoot. And that's cool with me.
 
If I find bulk .22 at BP or walmart, I will buy my limit... I got lucky to get 3 of the 300+ boxes since last christmas but at the time my dad was shooting his little new Henry carbine a bunch so I let him get 2 of those 3 boxes...

I cannot consider my measly sub 1,100 rounds stocked up to do much fun shooting...

Some of my "fun shooting" is in the form of various "nuisance animal work"... I do these for fun and don't ask for a penny from someone letting me shoot their hassle away rather than trapping it out...

Some of these "jobs" could easily require a few hundred rounds depending on all factors...

I am not out to hoard but was caught with my proverbial financial pants down when this started last winter...

Brent
 
Eh... I don't even bother with big box stores anymore. Not worth the hassle.

Sometimes I get lucky and can find 50 or 100rd box of 22lr at Walmart so I just pick those up when I can.
 
Heh, we should be so lucky. You realize that it's taxed at ELEVEN percent right now, yes?
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That's just the federal tax.

It's actually about 20% when you factor in typical sales tax.
 
If there were plenty of unfired .22lr around, my kids would fix that right quick .....
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Ok, after each of your kids each have their own pallet of .22lr, there will be plenty to go around. And, when they grow up and want to move into a house with Wife there will be a conversation that goes something like this: "Ohhhhh, I forgot about that....its that pallet of .22lr ammo my dad convinced me to buy....its been sitting under a tarp in the garage for 10 years....yeah, don't worry honey, I'll just call Skan's Gun Shop up and see if they will give me something for it...."

Folks, this stuff is cheap and easy to make. When the Israelies, Chinese, Russians, Indians, Pakis, and Detroitians figure out how cheap and easy it is to manufacture .22lr, they will all be jumping on the bandwagon. Believe it or not, pet rocks were scarce once too.
 
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BuckRub said:
And another 100% on what we pay now from 3-4 years ago before all this BS Hike prices started.
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Ammo prices aren't remotely close to double the price from 3-4 years ago. I haven't seen much increase at all in that time frame, except for what the panic buyers will pay online and at gun shows. Store prices have been fairly steady, consistent with inflation anyway.
 
Ammo prices aren't remotely close to double the price from 3-4 years ago. I haven't seen much increase at all in that time frame, except for what the panic buyers will pay online and at gun shows. Store prices have been fairly steady, consistent with inflation anyway
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Agree with Brian's assessment.

Thinking on the 'business' side of things, it would not surprise me if all the ammo manufacturer's are keeping an eye on the market and the obvious demand for 22's and decide to raise prices. In other words the 'supply and demand' theory that we are currently creating by the increase of 22 shooters due to the fact that other ammo dried up plus the hoarding of 22 ammo. Plus the added fact that ammo manufacturers know 22's aren't reloadable.

Look at the ridiculous price on .380's. At one time the excuse from ammo manufacturers for the high price of a box of .380 was that it was not a big seller and cost the manufacturer money setting up to run a batch of them. Similiar to the .41mag.

Then the explosion of the 380 hit with cc. Every gun manufacturer started mass producing the 380 and the ammo industry watching this whole thing unfold, has no reason to drop the price on the 380. Ammo manufacturer's knew there would be a high demand of 380 ammo being bought for the amount of 380 guns being sold. No reason for them to reduce already high prices on the 380 even though the manufacturer currently stays set up for running them. Again...supply and demand...that's business.

In short, what is the public WILLING to pay for the product.

If we continue to show the ammo manufacturer's that we are desperate enough to pay some of the ridiculous prices for the 22 and that 'we just have to have them', IMO, it could be very possible that 22 ammo prices will increase considerably.
 
In short, what is the public WILLING to pay for the product.
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That's only half the equation. The other half is what manufacturers are willing to produce. Russia seems to like to produce cheap steel cased 9mm, 5.56 and 7.62x39, and lots of it.

So, the lesson here is only buy guns that love cheap, Russian ammo.:D
 
Store prices have been fairly steady, consistent with inflation anyway.
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That's because wholesale prices been fairly steady. The last big hike we saw on ammunition was a 20-30% increase on some centerfire rifle cartridges back in 2007. Any other increases should be small yearly ones tied to inflation.

If Jim Joe Bob's Survival Bunker and Crimean War Surplus Shop tells you he's paying 50% more, either he's getting them from a private source, or he's lying.
 
I finally told my Sister to stop picking me more up now. She has been getting me one or so Bricks a month now for the last year. While I have been selling them to friends and such at my cost, I have more than enough to last me now.
 
Miracle on miracles, I walked into my local Walmart at 5:30; the usual time of long lines and people camping out here, and found nobody waiting and 9 mm, 380, and even 6 or 8 22LR MiniMag boxes sitting around. These are the first for over a year to just be sitting there with nobody lining up.

I didn't buy any; still got plenty of ammo and it's enough to know that I can likely replace it when I need to.
 
Yeah walmarts in my area are starting to get better..7.62x39 comes in pretty frequently same with .40 and. 45 and tonight they had about 12 150tomorow round boxes of american eagle in 5.56 but i wasnt in a position to shell out the extra 70 bucks this week :-( but .22 is still a no show havent saw any at wallmart for the better part of a year
 
I've had no problem finding .380, 9mm and .223 at the local Academy. .38 Special is there, but a little pricey.
He said their .22LR sold out in 15 minutes.
 
There was an old man I over heard in a gun store last week. This was his exchange with the proprietor:

Retiree:
"I'm old and retired so I don't have to get up to go to work. I have trouble sleeping at night and don't need much sleep anyway. I typically get up at 5:30 and head to the Walmart and wait for them to get their shipment in and I get my 3 bricks of .22. Then I head up the road and get my three bricks at the other location nearby.

Proprietor:
"Holy smokes there's no way you are shooting it all are you? I can't hardly get any in stock. Want to sell me some for $5 more than you paid for it?"

Retiree:
"Nah, I don't even own a .22. I just buy it up and give it to my buddies who still work and can't get any. I'm not interested in selling it, what do you got to trade for it?"

It's the only time in recent memory I've contemplated instigating a physical confrontation with an old man.
 
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